Print
Return to online version

February 2, 2011

Seems Folks Argued This All Along...

Justin Katz

This point was made so early in debate over the federal healthcare overhaul — before the Democrats rammed it into law despite every negative signal from the American people — that it's difficult to believe that anybody still believes the opposite. Still, it's worth noting its restatement:

Two of the central promises of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul law are unlikely to be fulfilled, Medicare's independent economic expert told Congress on Wednesday.

The landmark legislation probably won't hold costs down, and it won't let everybody keep their current health insurance if they like it, Chief Actuary Richard Foster told the House Budget Committee. His office is responsible for independent long-range cost estimates.

Legislators cannot simply ignore the law of supply and demand, no matter how much the resulting policies may please the special interests to which they cater or how much more invasive authority over citizens the legislation grants them.

Comments

Anyone with a modicum of knowledge about insurance should have known that the "You-can-keep-your-plan-if-you-like-it" promise was phony.

Two of the principal parts of Obamacare were (1) the requirement that plans cover all pre-existing conditions and (2) the inclusion of adult children up to the age of 26. If your present plan doesn't cover these (and it probably doesn't) you would not be able to "keep it" because it wouldn't exist.

Did Pres. Obama understand this and still make his phony promise? Or was he so clueless about how insurance rates work that he really believed what he was saying?

Either one is bad, but my guess is the former. Remember, before he was running for Pres. he said that his goal was a single-payer system but that it might take ten years to achieve.

Posted by: brassband at February 2, 2011 1:10 PM